‘We are watchdogs’ for nuclear weapon plant, says Ann Suellentrop

Rally participants hold signs defending immigrant rights and seeking power for workers, not billionaires.
On Martin Luther King Day, Trump’s inauguration day, Kansas Citians defend immigrants’ rights and call for a transfer of power from billionaires to workers.—Photos by Jane Stoever

Despite the 6-degree temperature, 70-some persons stood in the cold to hold, on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 20, a rally led by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Leaders of PSL and about 8 cosponsors spoke out at Ilus Davis Park, just north of the KC MO City Hall.

On behalf of PeaceWorks KC, Ann Suellentrop explained, “We are the watchdogs for the Kansas City National Security Campus, which makes 80 percent of the mechanical and electronic parts for US nuclear weapons.” She added that NSC employees “make the bomb work.”

“This is a new nuclear arms race,” says Ann Suellentrop.

Suellentrop, the vice president of PeaceWorks, said, “This is Martin Luther King Day. He said we need leaders that are not in love with money but with justice.” The crowd cheered. Suellentrop said, “He said we need leaders that are not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.” The crowd cheered again. Suellentrop added, “He said the choice is not between violence and nonviolence anymore. It is between nonviolence and nonexistence.”

Suellentrop refuted the Cold War theory of deterrence—countries continue to threaten to use the weapons. The US, since the Cold War, has spent $7 trillion on nuclear weapons, she said. “We are wasting money on these dead ends!”

The NSC is doubling in size this year, Suellentrop said. “It is going to make (parts for) Life-Extension Programs—not extending life for us, but to extend the life of the bombs for another hundred years. This is a new nuclear arms race.” After noting the government’s intent to make new nuclear weapon cores, Suellentrop promised that PeaceWorks would protest: “We go out there (to the NSC in south KC). We get arrested. We go to court. Look us up on PeaceWorksKC.org, and please join us!”

After her talk, Suellentrop reminded some attendees, “Trump is not required by law to consult anyone if he decides to launch a nuclear war. Argh!”

Several days later, in a discussion of her MLK Day talk, Suellentrop reflected, “The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, which PeaceWorks KC belongs to, won an historic lawsuit recently against the government’s plans for a new nuclear arms race. There will be two hearings in Kansas City during 2025, the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the hearings, citizens can speak up and say NO! to this insane $2 trillion misuse of our tax money. We need that money to reverse the climate crisis, to heal and protect the Earth, rather than threaten all life on Earth with extinction from nuclear war! We need a mass movement to say NO! to nuclear annihilation.”

Note: During her talk, Suellentrop referred readers to the opinion column published that day in The Kansas City Star, “Kansas City Is Preparing for Nuclear War. We Don’t Have To Sit By and Watch It Happen,”  https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article298718513.html

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